This photograph snapped by Blue Ghost shows the Moon’s surface and Earth on the horizon.
The Blue Ghost spacecraft has landed on the moon, making history as the first private lander to “successfully” achieve this feat according to its creator, Firefly Aerospace. The Texas-based commercial aerospace firm announced on Sunday that its lander had “softly touched down on the Moon’s surface in an upright, stable configuration.”
This is technically the second private spacecraft to land on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander, which touched down last February, was the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, but its mission was cut short after it toppled over.
Having nailed its own landing, Blue Ghost will now spend a full lunar day (about two weeks) performing research operations, including “lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, X-ray imaging, and dust mitigation experiments.” These experiments aim to provide environmental data and test technologies that will help NASA again land crewed astronaut missions on the Moon. Blue Ghost is also expected to capture high-definition images of a total eclipse on March 14th, which will see Earth blocking the sun when viewed from the Moon.
“With the hardest part behind us, Firefly looks forward to completing more than 14 days of surface operations, again raising the bar for commercial cislunar capabilities,” said Firefly Aerospace’s Chief Technology Officer Shea Ferring. “We want to thank NASA for entrusting in the Firefly team, and we look forward to delivering even more science data that supports future human missions to the Moon and Mars.”
Blue Ghost was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15th, alongside Resilience — another private lunar lander built by Japan’s iSpace aerospace firm. Resilience is taking a longer, more energy-efficient route to reach the Moon that’s aided by gravity propulsion, and isn’t expected to arrive until early May.
Blue Ghost arrived at its lunar destination after traveling 2.8 million miles over 45 days while downlinking more than 27GB of data. It then spent two weeks orbiting the Moon prior to landing on March 2nd, touching down just 100 meters away from its target location within the 300-mile-wide Mare Crisium.
“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro said. “We have already learned many lessons – and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”
